Poets to showcase talent at Stop Over

Poets from Bulawayo have been given a platform to showcase their talent at the Stop Over Bar & Restaurant in the city.

The event, an initiative of Fikile Nyathi, a published author, is being organised with the help of Kgomo Media and will be held every last Friday of every month, starting today.

Nyathi who is passionate about art has for the longest time, supported arts-related events in the city through her attendance. Now, she has gained interest in curating arts events, this one being the first.

The writer said this initiative was inspired by the zeal to see the poetic field growing bigger.

“This initiative was inspired by the love of arts and the dream to see the industry grow bigger and bigger. We wanted to do our bit in growing the poetry community in the city and help it in staying vibrant.

“So, every last Friday of the month, starting this month, we hope to engage in poetry and have patrons experiencing different poets from the city. Hopefully, as the initiative grows, we’ll have poets from outside the country performing,” said Nyathi.

She said all is set for the inaugural event.

“We’re looking forward to Friday and we’re excited about the performers we have for the inaugural event which include Thaluso da Poet, Chichie the Poetic and Lucy da Poet.”

The event, Nyathi said will be an open mic one with the mic being given to anyone in the audience who wants to give poetry a go.

“They’ll be welcome to do so and should come this Friday at Stop Over.”

Chichie the Poetic Queen said this initiative is good as it will help people to recognise poets in Bulawayo.

“Poetry is not prioritised as much in the city so this is a way of trying to show people that we have talented poets in Bulawayo and we want people to embrace poetry. This is also a platform to say ‘we’re creating a space for other poets’ because I always believe that when you start something, you’re actually opening up opportunities for others that are going to come,” said the poetic queen.

Lucy da Poet said she is humbled to be paving the way for more poets and hopes that the city will come out to support them.

“The feeling is hard to explain because we don’t know how it’s going to be since it’s something that’s not common in Bulawayo, also considering that there are not many poetry fans in Bulawayo.

“Poetry is unlike music whereby people will be dancing and enjoying. Poetry is about listening, so we don’t know whether the audience we’re going to find at the venue is going to be willing to listen and welcome our pieces,” said Lucy da Poet.

This initiative comes at a time when Stop Over has been at the forefront of promoting local art. Recently they introduced a platform for house music DJs through what they termed House in the CBD.

Nyathi thanked the Stop Over management for allowing them to use their venue saying their support goes a long way in promoting the city’s arts.

Phillip Phiri, the Stop Over entertainment manager said they are more than willing to support local artistes and will continue doing so.

He said the city has a lot of talent, but not so many platforms to showcase its talents, something they want to assist with. – @TashaMutsiba